Naomi Judd is opening up about her battle with severe depression. The legendary country singer revealed in an interview with Good Morning America on Tuesday that she began to fight a “completely debilitating and life-threatening” depression six years ago that led to several stays in psychiatric wards and heavy medication to battle the disorder.

“They think, because they see me in rhinestones, you know, with glitter in my hair, that really is who I am,” Judd, 70, said of her fans. “I'm sort of a fantasy 'cause I want to provide that for them.” However, her reality was different. "But then I would come home and not leave the house for three weeks and not get out of my pajamas, not practice normal hygiene,” she said. “It was really bad.”

She also explained how treating the depression has impacted her: “My hands shake really bad...medication, nothing I can do about it. And my face, I feel like a balloon. My face is all swollen because of the medication. I really haven’t been eating ice cream and candy, I really haven’t!”

Judd said she decided to tell her story because “what I've been through is extreme [...] it was so deep and so completely debilitating and life-threatening and because I have processed and worked so hard for these last four years.” She also wrote a book called River of Time: My Descent Into Depression and How I Emerged with Hope, in which she claims she was molested by a family member when she was 3 years old. “I think that's one of the reasons I wanted to write the book...because I never acknowledged all the bad stuff that people did to me," she said.

Judd said she wants her story to help others. “If I live through this, I want someone to be able to see that they can survive."

While Judd’s experience seems like an extreme case, clinical psychologist John Mayer, Ph.D., author of Family Fit: Find Your Balance in Life, tells SELF that this is what many people experience in depression. “It is very common that depression is this debilitating,” he says. “But our social stigmas and attitudes toward those who suffer from depression prevent us from seeing how debilitating and painful it is.”

Licensed clinical psychologist Alicia H. Clark, Psy.D., agrees. “This kind of debilitating depression can happen more often than people realize, and it can sometimes escalate more quickly than people expect,” she tells SELF. Feeling down can morph into feeling stuck and miserable, which can make people feel hopeless, creating a negative spiral of emotions and thoughts that can be dangerous, she explains.

People who suffer from severe depression are more likely to have a recurrence, psychologist Paul Coleman, Psy.D., author of Finding Peace When Your Heart Is In Pieces, tells SELF, and it may be a sign that a person is suffering from another issue as well. “If it seems chronic and unrelenting, there are likely other disorders combined such as anxiety, trauma, a personality disorder, or perhaps some sort of substance problem,” he says.

There are a lot of factors that can put someone at risk for depression, and severe depression can stem from several of those happening at once, Clark says. Among them, she lists having family members who suffer from mood disorders or other mental illness (it can put someone at a genetic risk), life experiences such as high levels of stress or suffering a loss, and health issues. “Chronic debilitating stress mixed with exhausted coping skills often are a set up for developing depressive symptoms and an indication that help is needed,” Clark says.

There are different levels of depression, ranging from mild to severe and chronic, Mayer says. People can also be diagnosed with dysthymic disorder, which is a mild, persistent form of depression, often characterized by melancholy, he says, adding, “We have many levels of diagnosing depression officially.”

How a person thinks about their symptoms can often have a big impact on how they experience them, and spiraling can happen quickly, Clark says. For example, if you feel so depressed that you can’t get out of bed, you are more likely to feel more hopeless, and therefore more depressed, and less able to get up.

Depression is often treated with talk therapy, but Mayer says a combination of medication and psychotherapy is crucial for people suffering from severe depression. “One is not completely effective without the other,” he says. “I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to see people who suffer this much with depression who either only get medicated without therapy or seek help only to see a counselor who is not trained and experienced to treat the depression.”

Luckily, it’s possible to recover from depression—even severe cases. “Depression is an illness that can be treated, and cured,” Clark says. “Believing you can’t be helped is your depression hijacking your thoughts, and not the truth.”